


Guide Me Home

by knitpurl



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Blind Lance (Voltron), M/M, My First Fanfic, Post-Season/Series 02, Sorry Not Sorry, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-03-28 12:27:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13904022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knitpurl/pseuds/knitpurl
Summary: Hitting a single Galra flag ship should have been easy, but to Voltron things never are.





	1. Chapter 1

“Alright guys, we’ve done this before, you know what to do,” Shiro had his leader voice on as he explained the plan. “Pidge’s extended scanners have found a Galra ship without much by way of protection, were guessing just the squad they have on board.”

Lance stretched back in his chair and only half listened. Shiro was right. They had done this before, probably about a dozen times by this point. Now that Zarkon was gone the Galra were drifting, but the empire had by no means gone down. Volton was systematically hitting outposts and ships looking for intel into who was in charge now, and what they were up to. While they hadn’t found much out they did get a surprising side effect. They regularly made off with supplies to replace their own dwindling food stores. The food goo (thankfully) was (finally) running out. Galra had surprisingly similar tastes to Earth.

Lance returned to the plan just in time to catch the important bit.

“After Lance has used Blue to make a sonic map out of the ship, Lance, Keith and I will go in Red to the ship and slip in with Pidge’s guidance.”

Lance groaned, “Why do we always have to take Red? I’m already in Blue.”

“Jealous?” Keith’s tone was teasing and sarcastic.

“No,” Lance grumbled looking down, “I just like Blue.”

“Sorry Lance. In one lion we’re less likely to be seen and Red’s the fastest if we get into any trouble.”

“Fine. Whatever let’s just go.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll go slow,” Keith mocked but when Lance glanced up his eyes were dancing.

Lance blushed and looked down again, hoping no one would notice.

There was a beat.

“You two aren’t going to have a problem working together are you?” Shiro’s tone was resigned as if he was expecting something like this to happen.

“No problem at all chief,” Lance stood and started walking towards the hanger.

“Hang on Lance. We’re not done here yet.”

Lance about faced and sat back down where he was.

“As I said before,” Shiro looked around, waiting for more interruptions, “Once were inside, Pidge will direct us to command and to the food stores. I’ll go alone to the command, my hand should open any doors, Keith you should be able to open any in your guys’ way.”

Shiro looked around the room again, “Any questions?” when there were none he stood, “Alright then, let’s move out. Everyone to stations.”

There was movement as Allura prepared to open the wormhole and Hunk and Pidge prepared to receive and decode the map from the Blue lion. Lance and Keith left them behind as they followed Shiro to the hanger. They walked shoulder to shoulder, hands barely brushing each other’s but not moving to walk further apart. At the lions Shiro went to Red without a glance behind them. Lance glanced at Keith as he stopped at Blue. Keith was gazing at him intensely, then he quickly took Lance’s hand in his own and gave it a quick squeeze and a small smile. Then he turned and walked over to Red and Shiro.

Lance stared after him for a minute before he shook his head and smiled and climbed into his own lion.

 

The plan went without a hitch of course until it didn’t. Lance and Keith had made it inside, made it to the supplies and back to the lion, but there was no sign of Shiro. They waited a few minutes, looking around anxiously for any sign of Shiro.

“Shiro? Where are you? Shiro?”

There was no reply on the headset and Keith cursed.

“We have to go find him,” Keith said dumping his bags into red before retrieving his bayard.

“He’s probably fine,” Lance said, trying to hide his worry, “He’s probably rescuing prisoners of war and all that jazz. You know, being the hero.”

Keith frowned unconvinced. “Pidge,” he barked into his headset, “Do you have eyes on Shiro?”

A huff came over the headset as they heard Pidge typing away, bringing up the video feeds.

“Lance is probably right Keith,” she muttered as she distractedly swiped through screens.

Without warning alarms started going off all over the place and lights started to flash.

“Pidge! What the hell?!”

“It’s not me!” she said trying to keep the panic down in her voice, “someone inside set off the alarms!”

There was a horrible screeching sound behind them as they saw the hanger doors start to close.

“Pidge please tell me you know where Shiro is,” Keith sounded exasperated.

“Got him! He’s on his way to you!” she paused and the silence was deafening. “Oh quiznak. He’s got company! Get ready!”

No sooner had Lance retrieved his bayard, had Shiro come barreling though the door. His helmet was smashed on the left side of his face and he clutched a wound on his right side, blood starting to streak his white armour. Following closely on his heels was someone else. Long white hair obscured his face, but he had a wicked long sword in his hand, and it looked like Shiro’s blood was on it. Keith wasted no time, jumping at the attacker, giving Shiro a chance to duck before he completely fell over. Lance kept his gun trained on the attacker and Keith, letting out a frustrated growl when he couldn’t get a shot without risking hurting Keith. Instead he ran over to Shiro, letting his bayard vanish as he helped Shiro to his feet.

“Who is that guy?”

Shiro shook his head and grimaced, “I have no idea. He’s dangerous though. We have to get out of here.”

Shiro’s eyes widened and he pushed Lance aside as he reached his hand to block a sword tip aimed for his head.

Lance watched from the ground before getting up and activating his bayard watching the fight in front of him. He still couldn’t get off a shot, and he felt helpless, watching Shiro and Keith fend off the attacker together. Shiro seemed to have gotten his second wind, and together they were hammering the attacker, his defences coming later and later before Keith made a wide swing for his head that he dodged, just to have Shiro kick his feet out from under him.

“Run!” Shiro shouted, making for Red as Keith followed closely behind him. Lance bolted too, hot on Keith’s trail before he felt something sharp hit him in the back and a bolt of electricity shoot through him. He fell to the ground, his throat closing up before he could scream. He fought to stay conscious as he watched Keith, almost at the lion, turn his head and his expression turned from victory to horror. He shouted something at Shiro before he began to turn back before Shiro caught him and bodily hauled him onto the ship, shouting something at him as he did. Red’s mouth closed and she blasted through the doors. Lance was turned over onto his back, and the last thing he saw was the face of a Galra with long white hair, smiling cruelly at him. Then he slipped into unconsciousness.

 

“Allura we have a problem.”

“Shiro! Where were you? Why weren’t you answering any of our calls?”

“I was ambushed, Keith and Lance saved me but Lance is still down there.” Keith had taken some calming down when they came onto the ship and rocketed away without Lance. He tried desperately to turn his lion around but she had stubbornly refused. Shiro was unsure why his lion wouldn’t listen to him, but he was grateful. They had hardly made it out as it was. They couldn’t go back. Instead Keith was sitting in the chair seething. Shiro knew that kind of rage, and was afraid what Keith might try to do, but there was nothing he could do now. The lion was taking him to the castle. They’d figure out something there.

“Ambushed? By whom?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t say much, but he was strong, and he looked like a galra. He had long white hair.”

“Lotor,” the way Allura said the name turned his blood to ice. “Get back to the castle immediately. We need to get away from here at once.”

“Lance is still down there.” Keith said stubbornly. “We can’t leave him there.”

“Lotor is no one I would like to face unprepared. We will not win.” Allura ended the conversation with a wave of her hand.

“We won’t leave him.” Shiro said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll get him back.”

Keith held in whatever other objections he had, perhaps because there was nothing he could do, and they watched the castle quickly come into view.

 

They had barely touched down and Keith was out of the lion running to the bridge.

“We have to go get him,” he said, walking up to Allura. “We have to bring him back. We can’t leave him there.”

Allura stared resolutely forward at the wormhole she had created. She continued to guide the ship forward.

Keith was in disbelief. She was still running away.

“Princess!” Keith felt tears being to form in his eyes, “Please!” He sunk to his knees. “We can’t leave him! We can’t.”

He saw them enter the wormhole. They were leaving him. The doors opened again and he saw Shiro enter still clutching his side. He noticed the eerie silence around him, and when he looked, all eyes were on him. He hated this. He hated the loss, and the hurt and the pity. He furiously scrubbed his eyes and nose with the back of his hand and stood up, ready to storm out.

“Keith,” he heard Allura’s gentle voice behind him.

He turned warily.

“We will get him back.” She smiled softly at him, a sort of apology.

Keith’s face hardened, “We shouldn’t have left him in the first place.”

He turned back to the door and stormed out, shouldering past Shiro on his way out.

“Keith, wait.” Shiro called out. “Keith!”

Once he was out of the room, he began to run. He didn’t care where, just away from here. He ran until he was sure he was alone then he collapsed to his knees and cried. For the first time he allowed himself to grieve for all the people he had lost, and all the heartache he’d been dealt. For the first time he let himself go.

 

Lance woke in a panic. He kicked off his sheets and scrambled up on the bed. The room was dark, he couldn’t even make out anything around him. He tried to remember as he waited for his vision to adjust. They were on a ship, Shiro was fighting someone, there was pain and… He saw a cruel face smiling down on him. He shook his head, unsure if the image was real or from a dream. He crawled to the edge of the bed, intent on finding the others, walking towards the door he caught his shin on the corner of something and cursed.

A small chuckle came out of the darkness and Lance froze. “Keith? Hunk? C’mon guys. This isn’t funny.”

He rubbed his shin and stretched his arms out in front of him to feel for the wall. “Knock it off guys. You know I hate games. We have to talk about what happened. What happened after I passed out?” There was no answer so he continued moving forwards. He found the wall and ran his hand along it to find the lights. He found them and turned them on.

Nothing.

Off.

Nothing.

“Guys, what’s going on?” Lance began to panic, he reached up to touch his face and felt scars surrounding his eyes. “Why can’t I see?!”

He heard the chuckle once again in the darkness, and put is back against the wall, “Who’s there?”

“My dear paladin,” a smooth voice said, “you cannot see because I have blinded you.”

“What…” Lance’s heart dropped out of his chest.

“Well I figured if I incapacitated you, you’d be much easier to keep. Also, it’s doubtful your fellow paladins will come for you now if you are of no use in forming Voltron.”

Lance felt tears prick at his eyes and he shook his head, “Shut up! Who are you?”

He heard the figure get up and walk over to him.

“I am Prince Lotor. Heir to the Galra empire. Son of Lord Zarkon.” Lotor closed in and cornered Lance against the wall, “and you are mine.”

Lance felt a hand on his chin and wrenched his head from the grasp.

“Get off me!” Lance reached for his bayard, but it wasn’t there. He suddenly realized he was hardly wearing anything.

“What the…” in his moment of distraction, Lotor was on him. His hands were pinned above his head, and Lotor pressed the length of his body against him.

“They aren’t coming for you.”

“Get off me!” Lance thrashed against the wall, trying desperately to free his wrists, “They’ll come for me.” He said reassuring himself, more than fighting.

Lotor trapped both of his wrists in one hand and brought the other to his throat. Lance flinched involuntarily and stilled.

“My dear Paladin. When they find out you can’t see, do you think they’ll want you?”

Lance felt the dread in the pit of his stomach growing deeper and deeper as Lotor’s words sunk in. Shiro wouldn’t leave him right? And neither would Keith? But a nagging voice in his head reminded him of Shiro pulling Keith bodily onto the lion. And Keith had vehemently protested rescuing Allura when she had been captured.

“Tell me Paladin” Lance could feel Lotor’s breath against his cheek, “Have you ever been with a male of your species?”

Lance’s train of thought derailed. “Have I what?”

Lotor’s hand left his throat and reappeared on his thigh, then it travelled up under the little clothing he still had.

Lance’s stomach clenched in fear, “What?! No! Get off me!”

He renewed his struggles, attempts to get Lotor off him, to get his hands free, but Lotor was just so strong. And where was he going to go? How was he going to escape? His struggles lessened as he truly realized his situation. He was trapped. He couldn’t go anywhere.

Lotor chuckled in his ear as he lessened his struggles. “That’s right. Now you understand. You’re mine.”

Lotor released his hands and took a step back.

“Now Paladin. Kneel.”

Tears pricked at Lance’s eyes again as he shook his head and refused. Suddenly pain exploded through him. He screamed and arched his back, his joints seizing up on him. It was buzzing around in his skull, through the tips of his fingers and toes. Then it was gone. He dropped to his hands and knees and tried to catch his breath as his whole body shook. He remembered this now.

Lotor grabbed his chin and pulled him upright.

“Now was that so hard?” Lotor admonished. Lance weakly pulled his chin from his grasp.

“Now paladin. Open your mouth.”

Lance hesitated, swallowed and shook his head.


	2. Chapter 2

Shiro found Keith in the training room as he expected. He stood in the door and watched Keith fight the Altean drone. Shiro wasn’t sure how long he had been there, but he was drenched with sweat and his chest was heaving as he smashed his way through.

Keith never did fight with any forethought. Shiro thought watching him. He fought with all his heart right from the beginning. He never left anything for later. Every moment could be his last.

Shiro thought fondly of when they used to spar at garrison. He had always teased Keith about that.

_“Keith, buddy, just say uncle.”_

_He laughed as Keith glared and squirmed in the hold Shiro had him in._

_“Seriously Keith. I can do this all day.”_

_Keith growled and struggled even more before finally sighing and tapping out._

_Shiro laughed and let go. Messing up Keith’s hair he asked, “You gonna let it grow out while I’m gone or what?”_

Shiro was brought back to the present by Keith’s yelp of pain. He looked and saw Keith bent over double and a drone standing over him.

“End program,” Shiro said and the drone stiffened before returning to its station.

Keith straightened up, but kept his back to him as he heaved from exertion. They stood there for a bit, not speaking, the tension growing in the room.

“Keith.” Shiro said finally

Keith sighed and the tension ran out of his shoulders as he deflated. He turned around, “What?” he asked, eyes guarded.

Shiro thought back to when they were open with each other, before everything happened. When they were closer and they were able to talk.

“We have to talk.”

“About what?” he said, picking up stuff and putting it away from around the room, avoiding Shiro’s gaze.

“About Lance.”

Keith froze then continued to put stuff away, “He’s part of the team and we need him back. He’s a paladin of Voltron.”

“We all feel that way,” Shiro said carefully, “We all want him back, but you seem to be taking this harder than the rest of us.”

Keith paused with his back to Shiro, “What do you want me to say?”

“I want you to say what you want to say. I’m here if you need to talk. I hate watching you internalize all this. You’re hurting and I want to know how I can help you.”

Keith was silent. Shiro waited, hoping he hadn’t pushed too hard. He didn’t think Keith was going to say anything and opened his mouth to continue but then Keith whipped around, and Shiro was surprised to see there was tears in his eyes, “What do you want me to tell you Shiro? Do you want me to spill my guts like when we were back on Earth and I’d come to you with all my problems? Do you want me to tell you that Lance is the first person I let in since you disappeared because I didn’t want to get hurt again? Do you want me to tell you that I can’t stand losing everyone I love? Mom, Dad, you, Lance everyone I love leaves me and I can’t take it anymore. I’ve lost someone else, and I can’t help but think maybe it’s me. Maybe I’m the reason that I can’t have anything. If I can’t save Lance, I don’t deserve to be happy. I can’t lose someone again.”

Shiro was speechless. Keith let out a frustrated growl and pushed passed him, furiously scrubbing his eyes to hide the tears. Shiro caught him by the wrist as he passed.

“You haven’t lost him Keith. We’re going to get him back,” Panicked flashed on Keith’s face to be facing this conversation but Shiro soldiered on with things that had to be said. “You haven’t lost me. And you haven’t lost Lance. We’re going to bring him home.”

Keith was silent but wide-eyed. Shiro had a painful vision of the little boy his mom had basically adopted who had just lost his parents and looked up to Shiro like a hero.

“Keith, I promise we’re going to get him.” He released his grip on his wrist and pulled him in for a hug. “You’re not going to lose anyone.”

Keith was stiff in the hug, unused to the contact, before he melted. Shiro heard him sniffling before he muttered into Shiro’s jacket “I love him Shiro.”

“We’ll get him back Keith. We’re not leaving him there.”

 

“Uh, Princess,” Coran said nervously, tugging on the end of his mustache, “You should come have a look at this.”

Allura left the monitor of Galra ships she was reading and bent over his console and squinted at the writing “We’re being hailed? By whom?”

“The Galra fleet it appears, they seem to still have the castles frequency.”

“Can they track us?”

Coran typed something into the screen then shook his head. “It doesn’t appear as if they would if they could princess, they appear to just want to talk.”

Allura nodded and stepped back to the helm, and opened the castle-wide frequency “Paladins, we are receiving a call from the Galra fleet. Please come to the bridge immediately.” She didn’t wait long before they call came barreling in and gathered behind her. Then she nodded to Coran, looking at the paladins around her and Shiro beside her. “Answer then Coran.”

Lotor’s face popped up on screen.

“My dear Allura,” he purred, “it is you after all. It is good to know that 10 000 years hasn’t aged you.”

“Lotor. Release the Blue paladin back to us.”

“Straight to business then,” Lotor sounded annoyed and delighted at the same time. “Well, you always were a girl of action. Very well.” Lotor leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. “No. I’ve decided to keep him.”

There was an outcry around her as the Paladins protested and threatened. She held up her hands for silence before replying, “Lotor, be warned. If you do not return him-“

“You’ll what? Form Voltron?” His tone was teasing but he had malice in his eyes. “Allura, you know as well as I do that that you cannot form Voltron without the blue paladin. So I think I’ll keep him. Besides, I’ve become rather attached. He’s very entertaining.”

Allura’s heart dropped. She knew what that meant. Lotor had a certain reputation.

“Show him to us! Let us see that he is alive!” Her voice betrayed her bravado and quivered just enough to be noticeable.

Lotor smiled “as you command my princess,” he turned to his right and spoke to a guard off screen “Bring him to me.”

Off screen there was the sound of a scuffle and she heard Lance and breathed a sigh of relief, but that relief soon turned to horror as she saw his face.

“What have you done?!”

“Allura?” Lance turned his head towards the screen but his eyes searched uselessly for the source. There were thick ropes of scars running through his eyes. And his eyes, that were once a brilliant blue where now grey and dull. There were bruises and angry red scars on his neck, which was surrounded by a shiny collar, and they continued across his chest, which was bare.

“Lance?” Keith’s voice was small and unsure.

“Keith? Keith, I can’t see. I’m blind and I can’t see.” There were tears rolling down Lance’s cheeks as he looked uselessly for the camera.

“You see? He’s useless to you now,” Lotor gloated as he began to pet Lance’s head as one might a pet. Lance fliched and looked at the ground again. “He is very well taken care of I assure you. However,” Lotor grabbed a fistful of Lance’s hair and Lance whimpered, “if I hear of anything happening to Galra ships at the hands of the lions, my hospitality will cease.”

The screen went blank. For a few moments no one said anything, they all stood in stunned silence.

“What do we do now?” It was Hunk who spoke, his face uncharacteristically solemn.

“We’re not going to leave him there,” Keith had become stony and closed off again, his moment of vulnerability had passed.

“No we’re not,” Shiro agreed, placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder, “but we can’t go charging in there. We need a plan. Without one, we’ll probably lose someone else. We have to be careful about this.”

“The only way that we’re going to get him is with Voltron.” Allura sighed, voice resigned Lotor had been right about that.

“There has to be another way!” Keith refuted desperately.

“We’ll find one Keith. But we have to be smart about this.” Shiro smiled gently at Keith. “Remember, patience yields focus.”

Keith looked like he was going to argue, but sighed and looked down. “Alright.”

Shiro looked back up to the rest of the group, “Does anyone have any ideas?”

Allura watched as he looked at each one of them as they all shook their head in turn. Shiro sighed. “Okay. Allura, Pidge and I will continue sorting through the archive for anything useful. Keith, Hunk, try and see if you can figure out where that transmission came from so we know where to find them when we do have a plan. Coran, can you make sure the castle is in perfect order so we can move fast. Anyone comes up with anything, just shout it out.”

As soon as he was done, there was a flurry of movement as everyone went to their respective tasks.

“Thanks Shiro.”

Shiro turned to see Keith looking up at him with a sad smile on his face.

“We’ll find him Keith. Don’t worry.

 

Lance waited nervously in the corridor. Lotor had been positively giddy this morning which meant something was up. Lance would be suspicious except it meant that he was second in Lotor’s mind instead of first. He wasn’t sure how long he had been on the ship. It was probably only a couple of days, but he couldn’t tell without knowing what time it was or without lights to que him. Besides, Lotor was having fun waking him whenever he had the chance to sleep. Since the first night he had fought Lotor. Though he couldn’t see them, he felt the bruises and the scratches. Last time had been particularly rough, but he fought Lotor. He fought him off with everything he had. But it was getting so hard to keep it up. The harder he fought, the more Lotor seemed to like it. Lance sighed and twisted his wrists behind him. Lotor had decided that it was better to leave his hands chained behind him while he was in “training”. A strap went from his wrists to his collar, forcing him to either lift his arms up or choke. His arms were exhausted. He was exhausted. When Lotor didn’t keep him awake, all he was allowed was to sleep at the end of Lotors bed on the floor. Lotor smugly told him one day he would be broke enough to sleep in the bed with Lotor. Lance shuddered at the thought.

Lotor’s voice jumped out of the speaker to the right of the door he had entered.

“Bring him in”

Lotor’s voice was positively gleeful. Lance steeled himself before being roughly shoved through the door.

“Quiznak,” he muttered as he tripped on the doorframe. A guard grabbed him and dragged him over to Lotor.

“What have you done?!”

“Allura?” Lance’s heart leaped to his throat, as his head swiveled towards the source.

“Lance,” a quiet voice said.

“Keith?” Lance felt the tears well up in his eyes without his permission, “Keith, I cant see. I’m blind, I can’t see.”

“You see?” Lotor said just behind him. He flinched and hunched his head forward. Suddenly Lotor’s hands were ruffling though his hair and he tried to stay still. “He’s useless to you now.”

Useless. He really was useless now. And now everyone knew it.

“He’s very well taken care of here I assure you, however” He grabbed a fistful of Lance’s hair and pulled his head back. Lance winced but tried not to make a sound. “If I hear anything happening to Galra ships at the hands of the lions, my hospitality will cease.”

There was silence from the other end of the line, Lance assumed they had hung up, disgusted.

Lotor didn’t release him, and Lance didn’t breathe, though all he wanted to do was curl in a ball and cry.

“You did so well,” Lotor purred in his ear.

“Fuck you.” He spat back, anger welling up. He wrench his head from Lotor’s grasp. He was going to pay for this. It was going to hurt. He braced himself.

Instead Lotor whispered, “You should have seen their faces. They were disgusted, and honestly a bit relieved to be rid of you.”

“Shut up!” Lance spun around to face Lotor, but all it did was allow Lotor to strike him across the face and pin him to the wall.

“You’re mine. Forever.”

“Fuck you! Get off me!” Lance was hurt, he was crying, he was angry, and his face throbbed. His brain said fight or flight and he surged at Lotor, and pushed passed him to what he thought was the door. He didn’t get far.

The pain exploded behind his eyes, and he fell to the ground and convulsed. He screwed his eyes shut and bit the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming. It didn’t stop. It went on longer than he ever thought he could take. He could taste the blood in his mouth and he struggled to breathe. After he was certain he was going to die it stopped. His muscles suddenly relaxed and everything hurt everywhere. The residual bits of energy coursed through him and made his fingers twitch. He couldn’t help it.

He laid on the floor, and felt Lotor lean over him.

“Pity you didn’t scream. I do love the sound of your voice.”

“Fuck off,” Lance ground out, but it came off weaker than he intended.

Lotor sighed. “Take him to my chambers.” Lance felt the rough hands of his guards grab his shoulders. He tried to stand on his own, but found he couldn’t. “I’m going to have some fun with him later.”

Lance felt the room sway around him. The last thing he remembered was being roughly thrown in Lotor’s room and the door closing behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

Allura lifted her head from the heavy volume she was reading, stretched, and looked at the room around her. After they had found the fleet, Keith and Hunk had joined them in the archives. Hunk was the first to pass out his head back and his mouth open, his hand still on an open volume. Pidge had been next. She curled into the chair and the mice had jumped into her pockets. Keith was the last. His altean wasn’t the strongest, but he had been trying. She watched as Shiro gently pulled a book out from his lap and brushed some hair out of his eyes.

She smiled and imagined Shiro try to do that when he was awake. He looked up at her and smiled sheepishly.

She turned back to her book, but her brain just wasn’t working.

They had gone through every variation of a plan, but nothing was going to work without Voltron. In every scenario they could come up with they were too weak to take out the ion cannons and the fleet at the same time. They simply needed Voltron.

“What’s this word here?”

She was broken from her thoughts by Shiro pointing to something on the page of the book he had taken from Keith.

She turned to look, “It sort of means the strength of ones bond to their lion I suppose. But this is a children’s story Shiro. One we tell our children about the fabulous adventures of-“

Suddenly she remembered a story that she had been told as a child about Voltron. She prayed it was true. Still thinking she got up and started to walk towards the hanger. It had to be true. I was going to work.

“Princess, where are you going?”

“We are going to get him.”

“I want to save him as much as you do, but how Princess? Lotor has a point, we can’t without Voltron.” Shiro followed her as she strode down the halls to the hanger. “We need a plan. We need to know what we’re going to use to get him back.”

“We will use Voltron.”

“How? Princess! We have no blue paladin!”

They stood in front of the blue lion. She was sitting serene and calm, waiting for her paladin to return.

“In some very special circumstances,” Allura started, looking up at Blue, “the lions have taken substitute paladins. Never for very long, but it has happened.” She put her hands on Blue’s paw, “I’m going to ask her to let me pilot her to find Lance.”

She turned to see Shiro gazing at her cautiously, “Do you think it’ll work?”

“I have to try.”

Allura turned all her attention back to the lion in front of her and cleared her mind.

_I need your help,_ she thought, _your paladin is in great danger._ She felt a deep rumble wash over her. Anger? Annoyance perhaps? She continued. _I know I am not your paladin, but I am Altean, as are you. The men who have captured and are hurting your paladin are the same who destroyed Altea. Please let me help you save your paladin. Please let me help you save Lance. Let me pilot you and bring him home._ She tried to pour all of her emotions, the fear, the anger, and the desperation, everything she could do to make the lion understand that she needed to do this.

“Allura,” Shiro whispered softly behind her.

She opened her eyes to see the lion bow its head to look her in the eye. Suddenly she felt the lion back. She saw images of Lance dancing before her eyes; Lance finding the lion, piloting it for the first time, laughing, discovering the secret of his bayard. All this played through her head before a single overwhelming though came through.

_Yes._

Allura let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding and smiled softly.

She turned to Shiro, “Tell the others to suit up. We’re bringing him back.”

 

Lance laid on the floor at the foot of Lotor’s bed and shivered, not entirely out of cold. Lotor had kept his promise. He tried to sleep. The Galra didn’t need as much as he did but it did happen from time to time. Of course the Prince didn’t sleep with his slave and no precautions. His collar was shackled to the floor on a short leash.

He thought of the very different circumstances he’d fallen asleep with other people in the room. Fighting for sheets with his brothers when room was tight. The peaceful sounds of other cadets breathing at Garrison. And the one time just before he was captured that he and Keith had spent the night together, just laying in bed together, unwilling to go to their own rooms until they had fallen asleep. Reaching out in the middle of the night just to see the other one was still there.

The thought of Keith threatened tears. He bit the inside of his cheek and squeezed his eyes shut. They weren’t coming for him. Lotor had made that clear. Were they glad to be rid of the dead weight and to find a real pilot for the blue lion? Did Keith mourn Lance or was he glad to be rid of him.

A blaring alarm stirred him from his thoughts, but also awoke Lotor.

Lotor tensed in the bed beside Lance, like a snake about to strike before he snarled and stalked over to the com.

“There had better be a good reason for this. Report.” He demanded.

“We’re under attack sir” a guard stammered out.

“By whom?”

“It’s Voltron sir.”

It was as if all the air had been sucked out of the room.

“That can’t be.”

“I understand that sir, but it is Voltron.” The ship lurched to one side and the guard continued, “They’ve just taken out the ion cannon!”

Lotor sighed, “Send out the fleet I suppose.”

Lance felt hope blossom in his chest before he quashed it back down again. That meant they had someone in the blue lion. He had been replaced.

“Your friends have replaced you and don’t seem to care about your safety,” Lotor taunted. Echoing Lance’s own thoughts.

Lance simply glared at the ceiling, not deigning him with an answer.

Lotor chuckled to himself and put on his armour

“Sir,” the com spoke again.

“Report.”

“Voltron has broken into lions. We also have an intruder on the lower levels.”

“On screen.”

“Well, well, well,” Lotor clicked his tongue thoughtfully, “the red paladin to the rescue.” He returned to the com, “Put some sentries in his way to slow him down. I will stop him myself.”

“Keith,” Lance whispered, afraid of what everything meant. Was he going to get out of here alive or was Keith going to get hurt.

“Ah. So that’s the one. Too bad I’ll have to kill him.”

Lance scowled and didn’t respond. A whirlwind of emotions was swirling through him; fear, hope, anger, despair.

“And you,” Lotor said, suddenly above him, grabbing him by the throat and squeezing his claws digging painfully into his neck, “will not have it as good as you have it now.”

Lotor released the collar shackle from the floor and wrenched him to his feet. He engaged the wrist cuffs which pulled his arms up to his collar behind his back. Lance cried out as his shoulders were twisted too far, but didn’t have a lot of time to stay with the pain.

“I want you to hear him die,” Lotor sneered, and pulled the leash making lance stumble as he stalked forward out of the room.

Lotor kept up a brisk pace as they made their way to the lower level. Lance struggled to keep up, he knew he would be dragged if he fell. Suddenly he ran into Lotor’s back and was pulled down by his collar. Lotor had stepped on the chain near his throat and Lance’s cheek was practically resting on his boot.

“Are you ready?” Lotor taunted.

Lance merely scowled in reply.

Then came the electricity. Burning hot irons being drug through his skin from his neck down his chest and up his face. He screamed in spite of himself. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think. All he wanted was for it to be over. Then finally it was. He expected a smart remark, a demand, anything to follow, but all he got was stony silence. So he stayed there. Muscles clenching through the aftershocks as he tried to recover. Vaguely he heard steps approach from down the hall. There was a pause then he heard it.

“Let him go.” A voice harshly whispered.

 

Keith was sneaking through the lower levels, checking the doors as he could. He didn’t have enough time for this. He ducked around a corner as another sentry troupe went marching by. His bayard was out and ready when he heard a blood curling scream down the hall. His stomach clenched in fear as he thought of the worst. He took a deep breath. _Patience yields focus_. And stepped out of his corner to see what had made the sound.

Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn’t this. Lotor was standing on the other end of the hall, he had Lance on his knees in front of him panting and shaking. In one hand he had a chain wrapped around his fist that seemed to lead to Lance’s throat. Seeing it on screen was one thing, but to see it in front of him was another. The scars and bruising stoked the rage that had been building in him for a while.

“Let him go,” he hissed.

“Keith?” Lance whispered turning his head at the sound before Lotor pulled the chain tighter and he grimaced.

“So you’ve decided to come and rescue him after all,” Lotor sounded pleasantly bored, but Keith wasn’t convinced.

“No one gets left behind.”

Keith heard Allura frantically shouting in his ear to back away, not to take on Lotor. In frustration he removed his helmet to remove the distraction. He pulled out his bayard and took a fighting stance.

Lotor only laughed in response. “Are all you humans so dramatic? I heard the champion was as bad as you are.” He smiled, but it held no warmth. “You really want to fight me over him? He’s worthless as a paladin.”

“Keith,” Lance choked out, tears welling in his eyes, “Keith, don’t fight him. Just go. I’ll be okay.”

“Well that I cannot promise,” Lotor interrupted, Putting one boot to the side of Lance’s head. “We did have a deal and you broke the arrangement. My hospitality will cease,” Lotor pulled on the chain and Lance began to choke and struggle against the cuffs that held his wrists behind him. Lotor finally gave him enough slack that he coughed, and took deep shuddering breaths, “He will live however; since I am quite fond of him.”

Keith began to shake, “For the last time let him go.”

“Or what? You’re going to hit me with your sword? Trust me paladin. I’m much harder to kill than that. Just ask your champion, I’m sure he remembers that.”

Keith said nothing but charged at Lotor instead. Lotor smirked and drew a dagger from his side. Keith was ready to wipe that smirk off his face, even if he didn’t win, even if he didn’t make it out.

Lotor suddenly got a surprised look on his face, stiffened, then fell to the ground.

Keith stopped running and looked at Lotor laying on the ground unmoving.

“Um..”

Then he saw something green from the corner of his eye, “Pidge?!”

She was holding her bayard up and energy crackled off it, “How did you-“

She shrugged and pointed at his helmet, “You stopped listening to us, but we didn’t stop listening to you,”

She walked over to where Lance was laying on the ground, also unmoving.

“Is he?” Keith tried to swallow past the lump in his throat.

Pidge knelt down and felt for his pulse, “No, he’s okay. I’ve shocked him before so I figured he’d be okay.” She frowned, the activated her bayard and sliced through the collar around his throat. Keith felt the relief flow through him and he rushed next to Lance. He saw the rise and fall of his chest, but also the bruises and the angry red area where the collar used to be that ran up his neck and across his chest and back.

“Keith,” Pidge’s voice brought him back from murderous intent, “Allura is just down the hall with blue and green. We need to get there before he comes to.”

Keith nodded, and picked up Lance, one arm under his shoulders and one under his knees. Lance’s head fell into his chest, and he saw the ropes of scars up close for the first time. His vision grew red as he looked back at Lotor.

“Keith! Come on!”

Pidge was already down the hall waving at him to get a move on.

Keith growled but followed her. Next time. Next time for sure.

 

Pidge’s voice crackled over the blue lion’s radio “Allura! Open the lion! We’ve got him and we’re coming in hot!”

Allura frantically began to push buttons to make it open, but the lion hummed, gracefully knelt down and opened her maw to let them in as Keith rounded the corner with Lance in his arms and Pidge on his heels. They were barely in before there were troops pouring through the door and began to shoot at the lion.

“Get us out of here!”

Allura saw Pidge blast off in the green lion and quickly followed suit. Outside the Galra ship, Allura directed Blue to where Keith had left Red. She turned quickly and saw Keith gently laying Lance on the stretcher and brushing the hair from his face as he covered him with a blanket. She suddenly felt intrusive and focused her attention back on flying.

“Shiro! We’ve got him! We’re on our way back to the Red lion now-“

Suddenly Blue stopped in midair.

“No, please not now!” Allura desperately pushed buttons and kicked the floor, willing the lion to move.

Keith stumbled into the cockpit. “What happened?!”

“The lion!” Allura panicked, “She won’t listen to me!”

Shiro’s voiced crackled over the speakers, “What happened? Are you guys alright?”

Allura and Keith locked eyes for a moment. He looked as panicked as she felt. Then the world started again. There was a muffled scream from the back. Keith ran back and Allura turned to the radio.

“Shiro, the lion has stopped responding to me. We’re dead in the air.”

“Hunk, go try and give them some cover. Allura do you have any idea of why she’s decided to stop listening to you?”

“I don’t know,” she stammered, racking her brain for something, “maybe she knows her true paladin is on board?”

“But Lance can’t see!”

“You try telling that to a giant space lion then!” she snapped and began to work her way through scenarios and the controls at her fingertips. Then the control panels went black and the entire lion powered down.

“No, no, no!” Allura was nearly to tears. This wasn’t supposed to happen. She saw the yellow race over to her just in time as they began to get hit.

 

Lance awoke and screamed. There was a thin sheet on him but it felt confining. He kicked it off and scrambled back until he felt his back on something solid. He didn’t know where he was. What was Lotor doing to him?

He heard footsteps rush over to him and he held his hand out in front of himself.

“No! Please! Stay back!”

Surprisingly the steps stopped.

“Lance? It’s me. It’s alright.”

“Keith,” Lance sobbed, everything coming back to him, “What happened?” he reached his hand out to ensure he was really there.

Keith closed the gap quickly and sat next to lance, taking his hand and putting it on his face.

“We got you out. We’re in blue. You’re safe now.”

Lance felt Keith’s face, the familiar high cheekbones and pointed chin. Eventually it wasn’t enough.

“Keith,” he finally choked and grabbed him, fingers scrambling over the slick armor as he pulled him close and sobbed into his shoulder.

Keith seemed taken aback at first before he gently wrapped his arms around Lance’s bare shoulders and let him cry.

Lance probably could have stayed like that forever but there was a large shudder as something hit the lion.

“What’s going on? What was that?”

“Allura can’t control the lion. We’re dead in mid-air but it’ll be okay. We’ll figure something out.”

Lance felt the panic rise before he squashed it back down again. This was his fault. They came for him and now everyone was going to be captured.

“Keith!” Allura’s voice came from towards the cockpit “Keith, I need your help!”

“I’ll be right back.” Then he was gone.

Lance rose to follow him, not wishing to dwell in his thoughts. He pulled the sheet off of the cot and wrapped it around his shoulders, and caught the tail end of their conversation.

“Are you insane?”

“No. Do you have any other ideas?”

“Allura he’s blind!”

Lance stood in the doorway and the conversation halted. He wasn’t sure what to say when they were hit with another large blast and Lance was knocked to his knees. He felt hands help him to his feet.

“Lance are you alright?” Keith was on his right, Allura must have been on the left.

“M-fine,” he said, keeping his head bowed. He was useless and now a problem. Would Lotor let them go if Lance went back with him?

“Lance, I think you can help us,” Lance turned to his left and frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“Allura-“

Allura talked over whatever objections that Keith might have had. “I think that the lion isn’t responding to me anymore because she knows you’re on board. If you can get her moving, Keith and I can direct you.”

“Uh, Okay.” He left them and felt his way to the chair. When he sat in it, he didn’t feel any different. He hesitantly took the controls and heard a gasp behind him.

“Lance! You’ve done it!” Allura’s voice was back and to his left.

“Good job Lance,” Keith laid a hand on his shoulder on his right and squeezed gently, “Okay, well, go forwards, the castle is at your 11 o’clock.” If Keith was really going to guide him, this might really work.

As he tentatively guided the lion forward, he saw. He saw the castle, he saw the fleet surrounding them. He understood; Blue was letting him see through her eyes.

He smiled and felt the tears running down his cheeks.

“Allura, do you know why they call me the tailor?”

“Uh-“ Allura was puzzled but Keith knew.

“Lance no!”

“Because of how I thread the needle.”

He punched the throttle and blew past the fleet coming up behind him.

“Lance how are you-“

He pounced on a ship and tore it to pieces with his jaw blade. Then he was off like a shot to the next one.

It was exhilarating, he’d never done anything like it before. It was less like he was piloting the lion and more like he was the lion. He saw the Red lion, floating, waiting for her paladin and dove towards her.

“Here’s your stop,” Lance smiled as he sensed the disbelief of the two passengers.

“Lance, how are you doing this?”

He shrugged, “I don’t really know. Blue is showing me.”

Allura gasped, “She has lent you her sight. Your bond must be very strong to do that.”

Lance smiled to himself and nodded, “Yeah, I guess so.” He reached for the console and bowed his head, “Thanks girl” he whispered. A deep rumbling came in reply.


End file.
